On Cozy Sci-fi and Walking
I recently started reading Becky Chambers, one of the leading voices of cozy sci-fi. As she neatly puts it:
Cozy science-fiction can be very simply summed up as stories that tell you that the future can be good.
Although I love dystopias, I believe cozy sci-fi has its place. Endless pessimism simply isn't healthy.
I've come to realize that, over the past few months, I had begun to cultivate the same kind of mindset through something very simple: walking.
More recently, I read Way Station by Clifford #Simak. Amazing novel! And it's packed full of cozy sci-fi tropes: optimism, quietness, slowness, a sense of wonder, and meaningful connections.
One detail in particular caught my attention. Enoch Wallace, the protagonist, takes daily walks. Walking mattered to him. Lately, it has come to matter to me as well.
Three months ago, I started walking just 30 minutes a day to move a bit more. Since then, I’ve gradually increased the distance to 15,000–20,000 steps a day, split into two sessions.
It has done me a world of good. In many ways, walking is a deeply “cozy” activity. It slows things down. It creates space for the mind to wander, lessens anxiety, boosts mood for hours and sometimes the entire day... I could keep going for a while. As the saying goes, motion is lotion. But to sum it up, it's a kind of healthy mental bubble. As Simak writes:
He walked as if he had all the time there was.
And to quote the American philosopher Thoreau:
An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
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Methinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.
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I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least — and it is commonly more than that — sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.
If you decide to pick up the habit, I recommend you start small and listen to your body. Don't overdo it at first, and gradually increase. Overtraining is a real thing.
To bring things full circle: if you want to delve into cozy sci-fi yourself, I highly recommend Becky Chambers' Monk & Robot novellas duology (but most of her other books fill the bill). Here's the wiki page for the first one. I also recommend the aforementioned novel Way Station. Together, these three make a solid starter pack.
Image: Julia Royer (copyright 2026)